The camcorders which are presently available on the market may have a very small weight. They may also operate automatically. Therefore, they are quite easy to use. However, it is necessary to use both hands for controlling the operation of the camcorder. This may be inconvenient for certain usages of a camcorder, for instance if the user wishes to take written notes when he is shooting a scene.
It is the reason why it has been proposed to separate the image capturing part of the camcorder from the processing and recording part. In fact, the mechanical recording part has the greatest consumption of energy and it is the heaviest part of the camcorder. In this case, the first part, which comprises the image capturing device and a buffer memory, is very light and may be carried with free hands, for instance on the forehead. The buffer memory may be used, after the shooting, to transfer the recording to a cassette or tape having a greater capacity than this buffer memory.
However, a buffer memory has a limited capacity, for instance about one minute of recording. Therefore, it is necessary to frequently transfer the content of the memory to the cassette. This operation is not quite convenient. Moreover, during this transfer the image capturing device cannot be used.